Pages

Monday, May 21, 2012

I just wanted to say congratulations to my friend Alicia. She's been waiting for such a long time, but it's finally happened. Yesterday, HANK was transferred to her as her first puppy to raise for GDB! We're so happy that Hank gets to stay in the group and I'm so happy that she is an official puppy raiser. Alicia went to UHS as well, two years behind me. Yes, that does mean that she also has just graduated from high school. *smiles* Such a big weekend for her, but I know that she is going to have so much fun with Hank. I still don't know if I'll end up back home after I finish my degree here, but if I do I hope she's still raising then.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

So, I suppose it's time for another PWAP update. I know it hasn't been that long since I last posted, but quite a bit has happened since I last updated on the club.

First off, a few days after TIPPIN went into phase 8 we got news that she was in class. She graduated on May 12 with a woman who lives really close to us. I was super excited to hear that she had graduated. She was such a nice puppy and I'm so happy that she's out there working. I don't have any pictures of her in harness, but hopefully there will be some up on the facebook page soon.

Now, PWAP has gotten two new puppies. The first is DARRELL. He's a half and half Lab/Golden cross born to Simon and Tess. Jealous? I sure am. He's super cute. It makes me miss my little Indie. But every time I get sad/jealous I just remember that it's not my time to raise a puppy right now and I'm OK with that. I get to help with Frankie at any time his raisers need a break and, while I'm at University, that can be enough for me.

Darrell, a yellow lab/golden cross

The second puppy is the one I'm most excited about. She was a surprise puppy and came in yesterday. Her name is FIENNA. Does that name sound familiar? Well, it should. It was on my Mother's Day post. Have you figured it out yet? That's right! She's Hestia's puppy! I'm so excited that one of her puppies ended up in my group. I hope that Hilly and I get to spend some time with her while I'm home this July. Gotta say, more jealous about this one. Haha!

Fienna, a black lab

Oh yes, that's another thing. I'm going home for a month in July which I am pretty excited about. I can't wait to see my Hilly girl.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Right, so today I was going to post some pictures of Frankie's sleep over and let you all soak in some puppy cuteness. Instead, I'm going to go on a bit of a anger fueled rant.

Yesterday, during one of my many email checks to procrastinate work, I noticed that someone had posted a new comment. I moderate comments so that A) I always know when someone has commented on a post and I can reply quickly and B) I can delete any comments which I find offensive. Now, I haven't had to use B at all up until I saw the comment left yesterday. It was offensive. In fact, you might even say that this comment made me pretty angry. And I don't get angry easily. I get defensive easily and I get annoyed easily, but I'm a fairly patient person when it comes to controlling my anger. And yet this comment made me rage.

The comment was left by a person who goes by the username "XXAngelRXX" and was on a post from June 29, 2010 titled, "Oh Happy Day". This was the day that Rocco had decided that the crate wasn't all that bad and took it upon himself to go in and have a nap. I shared with you all my elation at the fact that he had accepted his crate which is a good thing for all Guide Dog Puppies and good for my sleep pattern. "XXAngelRXX" left the comment, "I would scream too if I had to be shut in a tiny cage like that!" And now, my dear readers, you all probably understand why I got so angry at this comment, but for those of you who don't understand I shall try and explain the best I can.

The one thing that makes me angry when people comment about PITs is when they assume that we are abusing our pups. We all hear it, "Why are you making that puppy work!?" or "It's abuse to make an animal work." These and all their variations are usually said with a certain amount of venom and disgust. While I really want to, I control the hand that wants to smack them across the face or the voice that wants to tell them off loud and clear. I politely say "thank you for your input" and just walk away. The reason that comments like this anger me so is because those people generally don't know all of the facts and they probably have overweight dogs at home that have been conditioned to a life of boredom and doggie bon bons. (If you ask me, that's abuse.) I don't remember the last time I was able to "make" Freya do anything and if we didn't let her work, that could be considered abuse. (Really guys, they love working and those that don't we don't "make".) With all of that said, here are the specifics as to why this comment offended me.

1. The size of the crate was determined by a picture. Sometimes, pictures distort the image of things. That was a LARGE crate for a 5 month old puppy. At that point Rocco could still stretch and turn and stand in that crate just fine. About two weeks later when he had a growth spurt and could no longer stand in the crate because of his height I managed to borrow and extra large crate from the group until I could procure my own. (I didn't have an extra large crate for Freya because, let's face it, the girl barely got into her big girl before going back to GDB.)

2. Yes, Rocco use to scream in his crate...when he was a baby and the crate was so spacious that he could do laps in it. In fact, we usually put the babies in a smaller crate, but I decided to use the large so that maybe he would feel more comfortable.

3. I admit, I let Rocco cry it out and didn't coddle him every time he started screaming. "But Erin! Isn't that...*looks fearfully to both sides*...abuse!?" Well, no, actually it is not. You know when kids start throwing a fit, not because there's something particularly wrong with them but because they want attention or they want to be close to you all the time? That's what Rocco was doing. He wanted attention, he didn't want to not be touching me, and he didn't understand why he could snuggle all night. So, like trying to teach a child that that is their bed and that is Mommy's bed and Mommy can't hold you all the time, I was teaching Rocco that it was OK to be away from me sometimes and that I would always be there in the morning. Obviously, if he started crying after hours of silence I took him out and took him potty or tried to see if there was something wrong with him. And when we were going through the acid reflex stage and the everything I put in my mouth makes my tummy hurt stage I would take him out and cuddle him if there had been hours of silence. Poor baby had a hurting tummy.

4. Finally, crate training is not abuse. I know that a lot of people out there think it is, but it's really not. If fact, it is a lot safer than letting a young puppies sleep loose. Rocco was still at that stage where everything was food and long time readers will remember that anytime he put something that wasn't food in his mouth he would throw it up. If he was allowed to sleep loose he could eat something that upset his tummy, or worse, he could eat something that could be potentially harmful to him. I know he looked big in the picture, but we have to remember that he was only 5 months old which means he was still very much a puppy.

Well "XXAngelRXX" I hope that clears up some of the confusion. You see, these dogs are far from abused even if they need to sleep in a crate when they're babies to avoid emergency trips to the vet. In fact, we probably make a stronger bond with our puppies in the year-year and a half we have them than you would with a pet dog in the same amount of time. They are with us for 95% of the time and, let me tell you, we put every drop of love we have into these puppies. So, yes "XXAngelRXX", he slept in a crate as a puppy but the last thing I ever did to my Boy was make him uncomfortable due to the size of the crate.

About Me

Hi, I'm Erin and I have a problem. I'm addicted to Guide Dog Puppy Raising. I started with GDB over 3 years ago. My first puppy Freya graduted as a working Guide in May 2010 and my second puppy Rocco graduated as a working Guide in August 2011. My third puppy, Hilly, was career changed in August 2011 and is now living life as my spoiled pet. I'm from California, but now I live in Aberdeen, Scotland as I go to University. Follow my puppies' journies as a Guides, Career Change, and puppy sitees or follow my journey of going to school in a different country.